The junta that has been ruling Niger since July last year has decided to remove its citizens from the streets of African capitals, mainly those engaged in begging and prostitution.
According to the authorities, they are destroying the country’s image.
The junta that has been ruling Niger since July last year has decided to remove its citizens from the streets of African capitals, mainly those engaged in begging and prostitution.
Beggars from Niger, mainly women and children, dominate the streets of capitals in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and can also be found on the streets of the expanding Monrovia in Liberia.
“In the face of the growing phenomenon of begging, which degrades the image of our country and threatens the future of innocent children, the government has decided to take decisive steps to put an end to it,” declared the inter-ministerial committee established by the junta responsible for the repatriation, but also for the reintegration of beggars brought to the country.
Similar repatriations have already taken place in the past. Similar committees were also established. The current operation is already the 19th attempt to bring Nigerien migrants into the country – at night sleeping under bridges, on sidewalks, in underground passages – during the day begging for alms or wandering the streets of Abidjan, Accra and Dakar.
In 2022, almost 500 children, over 400 women and 160 men were transported to Niamey from the capital of Senegal on several planes chartered by the Nigerien government.
In the same year, over 1,300 Nigerien beggars, including 400 women and over 600 children, were collected from the streets of Ghana and returned to their homeland.
Most of the Nigerien beggars scattered across Africa come from Kantche and Magaria, two departments of the Zinder region near the border with Nigeria.
Organised criminal groups are involved in sending women and children abroad. They promise young women that in Algeria, Libya or Senegal they will find work as domestic workers and will be able to send money home to support their families. But after collecting the money, they abandon them and force them to beg or prostitute.
Begging migrant children are treated particularly cruelly. In Algeria, they are rubbed with honey or sugar dissolved in water, which attracts flies and other insects.
The children are supposed to look sick so that compassionate passers-by will throw them some change, which ultimately ends up in the hands of the bandits.
